


The Good Fight

by skinsharpenedteeth (Skinsharpenedteeth)



Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Discussions of Feelings, Drinking, Emotional Baggage, Feelings, Kissing, M/M, Talking, not quite cheating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:54:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28169586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skinsharpenedteeth/pseuds/skinsharpenedteeth
Summary: Alex and Michael get temporarily trapped in Alex's cabin bunker together. There's guitar playing, truth or dare, kissing, and discussion of feelings.The cheating tag is because Alex is technically dating Forrest at the time and it's mentioned briefly in the fic.
Relationships: Forrest Long/Alex Manes, Michael Guerin/Alex Manes
Comments: 6
Kudos: 81





	The Good Fight

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, so I just found this fic. It was the first fic I ever wrote in the Roswell NM fandom and I posted it on Tumblr but it never made it onto here? Anyway, I cleaned it up a little bit and decided to post it. It's just a bit a emo-ness.

“Honestly, I’m beginning to get tired of secret, underground lairs. I mean, everyone we know has an underground bunker but not one fuckin’ swimming pool? Waste of funds if you ask me,” Michael grumped as he slowly descended into the room under Alex’s cabin. Alex, who was already waiting below rolled his eyes at him as soon as he saw Michael looking over his shoulder for a reaction.

“Get down here, brat,” Alex responded, sighing heavily through his nose as he waited for Michael to finish climbing.

Jumping off the ladder a few feet from the bottom, Michael turned and clapped his arms to his side. 

“Sir, yes, Sir!”

Shaking his head, Alex grinned and rolled his eyes again.

“Come on, show me the big surprise. With all the lights off, I’m beginning to think you’ve just tricked me down here with hopes to chain me up and make me your sex slave.”

“Like I’d have to trick you for that!” Alex scoffed, turning and walking to the side of the ladder to begin turning on lights. He felt Michael come to stand behind him, so close he could feel the heat from his body pushing against his back.

“No, you wouldn’t, would you? Maybe it’s my chance to chain you up instead…” Michael said, low and promising as his voice trailed off. Alex could feel the brush of Michael’s curls against his ear and his entire body tensed in anticipation of Michael’s hands or mouth touching him. He hadn’t realized he was holding his breath until he felt Michael pull back from him, his body heat replaced with the cool, dry air of the bunker. Slowly letting his breath out, he tried to quell the buzzing under his skin.

“Right,” Alex said to know one, his voice catching in his throat. Clearing his throat, he threw on the light switches and turned around to watch Michael’s reaction.

“Oh, wow!” Michael exclaimed slowly, drawing out the word ‘wow’ as he let his eyes trace over the room’s transformation. He turned after letting his eyes scan over it twice and grinned back at Alex, “Well, it’s no sex dungeon, but I could call it home.”

“Jesus, Michael…” Alex chuckled, hand coming up and covering his face in affectionate embarrassment.

The underground room which has once been set up to be a detox bedroom for Rosa had transformed under Alex’s ownership. He’d gotten rid of most of the furniture except for the bed. He had no idea how Mr. Valenti had gotten it down into the bunker to begin with and Alex had no good way of getting it back out. So he’d created a studio for himself. He’d added strings of lights around the room and brought down his guitars and keyboards. He’d set himself up a desk for his computer and mixing equipment. He’d even improvised a sound booth for vocals. The middle of the room held a couple of chairs on thick rugs to help with sound absorption. The aforementioned bed had been shoved into a neglected corner of the room and set up almost like a large daybed with pillows against the walls to create the feeling of a couch. He’d kept all the colors muted to browns, blacks, and reds and if he was honest with himself, he felt like the room was a tribute to his Emo/Goth high school self. The way Michael was staring around in fascination made him feel like he’d almost gotten away with it.

“I see you kept the bed down here. Planning on bringing home loads of groupies?” Michael jested, though as with every mention of Alex loving or fucking anyone else, there was a bitter bite at the end of it.

“I mean, I guess I could, but honestly I just couldn’t figure out how to get that giant mattress out of that little opening,” Alex commented, before catching what he’d said and quickly holding up a hand at the quick inhale from Michael, “no innuendo! Besides, between the two of us, you’re the one more likely to bring home casuals than I am. I just wanted a place to get away and play music without anyone interrupting me. I wanted an escape like what the shed was before…before my dad ruined it.”

Alex watched Michael swallow and obstinately not look at him. Alex knew he’d hit a nerve and cringed inwardly as he went back over what he’d said to take bets on which nerve it was.

“Maybe…” Michael started, still not looking at him, but not really seeming to see the room anymore either. “Maybe I wouldn’t need ‘casuals’ if the person I loved would quit treating me like a dirty secret?”

Alex flinched inwardly. He deserved that. He deserved it because he knew there was some truth in it and he still wasn’t sure how to change the parts of him that were broken by his father into feeling like his love was ugly and dirty and to be hidden. That wasn’t fair to Michael though.

“So why did you bring me down here, Alex? Wanna ‘jam’?” he asked, turning to finally look at Alex with a wry, self-deprecating smile on his lips.

“No, I…” Alex started, but faltered. Why had he shown this to Michael? Did he want this to be their new shed? Their new secret room where they could finally be themselves? Breaking his gaze from Guerin’s, he finished, “… I don’t know. I just wanted you to see it.”

“Well, I’ve seen it,” Michael responded brusquely. He started to shoulder his way past Alex to the ladder when two things happen.

The first thing to happen was all the lights went out in the room. What they didn’t know is that all the lights went out in Roswell too. The second was that the emergency generator kicked on and with a deafening clang, the trap door at the ceiling slammed shut and locked itself. The emergency backup power kicked on, leaving the room brighter than pitch black but nowhere near where it had been. Both of them stood still, shock widening both their eyes as they waited to see if another shoe would drop before they reacted. After a moment of silence, Michael looked over his shoulder down at Alex.

“I’m going to fucking kill Max. What the actual fuck?” Michael grumbled, starting back up the ladder. When he got to the top, Alex watched as he groped for a handle that wasn’t there. Then he watched what he assumed was Michael trying to use his telekinesis to open the lock mechanism. Growling in frustration, Alex watched him try three more times before he swayed on the ladder and half hazardly lowered himself to the ground.

“Why isn’t it opening for me, Alex?” Michael asked, his eyes glaring accusingly. Alex, for his part, was dumbstruck.

“I have no idea, Michael. I didn’t even know it had an emergency shut down,” Alex replied, staring upward and thinking, trying to figure out why Jim Valenti would have installed the door with an emergency lock. Oh right, _aliens_.

“It probably won’t work for you. It probably won’t work for me. I bet it has to be opened from the outside,” Alex said calmly. He knew he was supposed to feel freaked out and trapped, but instead he just felt resigned. “Let me see if I get any cell service down here. I haven’t really tried to call anyone from down here before.”

Michael rushed over, looking over Alex’s shoulder as he pulled out his phone and opened the home screen. One bar.

“I’m going to send Kyle a text. He’s got the spare key to down here. He’ll come get us,” Alex assured Michael, trying once again to ignore the heat and magnetism of having Michael’s body so close to his. This wasn’t the time to get distracted.

“Sure, okay…” Michael said before he stalked away, obviously still irritated. “Guess we can still have that jam session while we wait for Dr. Douchebag to come rescue us.”

Alex ignored him while he typed out his text to Kyle. Pocketing his phone, he turned and walked further into the room and picked up his guitar from its stand next to one of the chairs. Sitting down, he cradled the guitar on his lap and let his fingers strum and listened to see if it needed any tuning.

“What are you doing?!” Michael asked from behind him, sounding outraged that he’d meant what he’d said.

“I’m getting ready to play some music. If you want to join, there’s another guitar and chair. If you don’t, you can take a nap or something,” Alex replied, not looking up from the guitar as he slowly plucked and tuned an out of key string. He heard Michael groan and all but stomp over to the other chair to pick up the second guitar.

“What are we playing?” Michael all but growled, beginning to check and tune his own guitar.

“I dunno. What are you feeling?” Alex asked, finally looking over. He tried and failed to keep his heart from cracking open a little at how perfect Michael looked holding the guitar in the low lighting of the studio. It reminded him of the times they’d stayed out until they couldn’t see the tab sheets any longer, sitting in the back of Michael’s truck trying to learn new songs to play.

“This is your show,” Michael replied, still an edge to his voice.

“How about we dive into a guilty pleasure and do an old Dashboard Confessional song? You know ‘The Good Fight’?” Alex asked, grinning as he watched Michael remember the old emo tune and start shaking his head while laughing quietly. Yeah, he’d remember that one.

“Yeah, I remember it, Manes. Jesus, next you wanna do some Damien Rice and then go to separate corners to masturbate and cry?” Alex laughed loudly at the jest, catching Michael’s eye.

“They don’t have to be separate corners,” he flirted, starting the song to cut off any reply Michael might’ve given.

“Co _nsider the odds_

_Consider the obvious_

_The martyr is meaningless_

_The campaign has died_

_I_ n _the planning stages_

_And the fallen faces_

_Are the singular proof_

_That it was ever alive_

_T_ h _is purchased rebellion_

_Has been outbidded_

_Denounced and rescinded_

_And left to die championless_

_C_ h _ampionless, championless_

 _I_ _begged you not to go_

_I begged you, I pleaded_

_Claimed you as my only hope_

_And watched the floor as you retreated_

_H_ o _pe has sprung a perfect dive_

_A perfect day, a perfect lie_

_A slowly crafted monologue_

_Conceding your defeat_

_T_ h _is purchased rebellion_

_Has been outbidded_

_Denounced and rescinded_

_And left to die championless_

_C_ h _ampionless, championless_

 _I_ _begged you not to go_

_I begged you, I pleaded_

_Claimed you as my only hope_

_And watched the floor as you retreated_

_D_ o _es it comfort you to know you fought the good fight?_

_Basking in your victory, hollow and alone_

_To boast your bitter bragging rights to anyone who’ll listen_

_While you’re left with nothing tangible to gain”_

The men’s voices merged as they hammered out the chords and sang. Alex couldn’t stop the smile that stayed on his face when they’d reached the end of the song. Michael immediately suggested doing some more Dashboard Confessional to which Alex agreed. It had been their private joke that they learned the most emo songs they could. Three songs later their voices were cracking from lack of moisture from the singing and dancing around they’d begun to do with their guitars. It felt like old times. It was another one of those moments where Michael had magically made Alex feel young and hopeful again.

“Oh man, it’s been a while since I’ve played like that. This is first time I’m not pissed that Max fixed my hand,” Michael commented, setting down the guitar and looking around the room, “Do you have anything to drink?”

“Yeah, over by the sound booth there’s a mini fridge. Grab me a water?” Alex croaked, clearing his throat and setting his own guitar to the side. He dug his phone from his pocket to see that Kyle had texted him back. He must’ve made a face because Michael was giving him a concerned look when he came back.

“What did Kyle have to say?” Michael asked, sitting back across from Alex.

“Ugh, apparently Max blew out all the power in town and Kyle’s stuck at the hospital for a while until they get the power back. He said it might be a couple of hours. Want me to get him to see if he can get Isobel or Liz or someone to come up here?” Alex asked, looking up from his phone to see Michael smiling at him softly.

“Nah, I think we’re alright, don’t you? I mean,” Michael smiled wider, leaning forward and bringing the bottle of tequila that Alex had put in the back of the fridge out in front of him, “there’s plenty to drink down here.”

“Jesus, Michael,” Alex laughed, blushing at the look in Michael’s eyes as he took the bottle, opened it and took a quick swig of the clear liquor. It was a good, moderately expensive brand meant to be savored, but he needed a little liquid courage if Michael was going to continue looking at him like a surprise meal. He handed the bottle back over to Michael who took his own swig, watching Alex as he licked his lips. Alex was starting to feel warm and he knew that one swig of tequila didn’t have anything to do with the way he could feel himself swooning towards Michael as he recapped the bottle.

“Come on,” Michael said, standing suddenly and breaking Alex out of his trance. Alex’s eyes darted up towards Michael’s and then down to the hand he was offering him. Alex knew it was dangerous to touch Guerin. It always felt like he’d die every time he let go of their skin pressed together. Swallowing thickly, Alex stood up without taking Michael’s hand. Michael shrugged it off and walked over to the bed, turning and throwing himself across the mattress onto his back. Furrowing his brow, Alex watched as Michael arranged himself up against the pillows and then toed off his boots onto the floor. When he finally turned to look back at Alex, who hadn’t moved, he grinned cheekily. “Don’t worry, Manes. I won’t touch you if you don’t want me to. I’m all about enthusiastic consent. But this is way more comfortable than the chairs and if we’re going to drink, we might as well do it where we can sleep it off.”

“Why does this feel like a bad idea?” Alex asked rhetorically as he climbed onto the bed next to Michael.

“If you don’t want to, that’s fine. I promise to stay on my side of the bed, though,” Michael answered, passing the bottle back over to where Alex was laying on his side, propping his head up to stare down at Michael’s supine form. They shared a couple swigs apiece, watching each other in silence and letting the tension build between them.

“So, is this all we’re going to do? Drink and watch each other?” Alex asked, hoping to break some of the tension with a distraction.

“No, I mean… building on the high school nostalgia theme we could play truth or dare, never have I ever, spin the bottle or… seven minutes in heaven?” Michael waggled his eyebrows at Alex comically and making Alex choke on his mouthful of tequila at the suggestion.

“Jesus, Michael,” he complained, coughing once the liquid was safely in his stomach. He was beginning to feel the velvet edges of a buzz from drinking the tequila so fast, so he shook his head when Michael offered the bottle to him again. Sitting up, Michael placed the bottle on the floor next to the bed and then rolled to his side to mirror Alex’s position. The roll brought his body closer and while there was a safe almost two feet between them, Alex felt the tequila urging him to move forward and close the gap.

“Truth or Dare, Alex,” Michael started, eyes intently trained on Alex’s.

“Uh… truth,” Alex replied, already feeling off guard from the closeness of Michael’s body. He could smell the hint of pine from his soap and the petrichor from his natural scent and it was making his mind relax in ways it shouldn’t.

“Chicken,” Michael teased, leaning his head back to stare at the ceiling while he thought of a good ‘truth’ for Alex to tell. Alex watched as the cords in his neck stood out against his tan skin and felt like Michael was intentionally setting a thirst trap for him.

“Where do you see this thing with Forrest going?” Michael asked finally, quietly. Alex’s gut clenched and he rolled onto his back while his brain scrambled for an answer. Of course, Michael would go from light to heavy in the space of a breath.

“I don’t know,” Alex replied, staring at the ceiling. He wanted to stop, but his mouth kept moving. Tequila was showing his secrets. “I don’t think it’s going anywhere. But I’ve got to try? You can’t be the only person I’ve ever been in love with. I have to know that I’m capable of caring for someone besides you and he… he doesn’t feel like if I fail at loving him, it will break me.”

Alex was conscious of Michael scooting closer, the ever-present pull of their connection thrumming a little brighter with every inch that closed between them. Alex shut his eyes, waiting to see what the next move was.

“Okay,” was all Michael said from where he laid next to Alex on the bed. “Your turn.”

“Truth or Dare” Alex asked on reflex, not sure if he wanted to face coming up with a task or question for either of them. His heart felt like a lead weight pinning him to bed while he waited for Michael to choose. He kept his eyes closed and counted the breaths between them. The smell of Michael was stronger now that he was closer, and it made parts of Alex ache that had no right to, but he smelled like all of the good memories Alex had.

Michael waited a beat to answer. His fingers tapping between them on the bedspread in the erratic rhythm that said he was nervous. Alex took a small comfort in knowing that he wasn’t the only one left unsteady. The tequila in his cut was sending warming tendrils through his veins, but his head wasn’t ready to shut down yet. He started to shift restlessly on the bed, tired of the waiting for Michael to answer. He opened his eyes and looked over, catching Michael staring at his mouth while his fingers continued to move. Michael’s eyes flinched away, a guilty flush tinging his cheeks as he hastily chose his task.

“Dare.”

“I dare you to kiss me,” Alex blurted before his brain screamed at him to shut up. Michael looked over at him, shocked, and Alex knew he was mirroring his own expression.

“Are you sure?” Michael asked, voice eager as he moved his body even closer, his hand moving from the bedspread to Alex’s chest to finally stay still over his heart.

“Yeah, that’s your dare,” Alex whispered, sounding breathy and hopeful. Michael stared at him another minute before slowly propping himself up on his hand so he could look down into Alex’s eyes. His other hand that had been resting on Alex’s chest smoothed upwards over his collar and around to the back of his neck where it cradled his head. Lowering himself slowly, Michael tilted his head and pressed the barest kiss to Alex’s lips. It was almost like they were sharing breath by how gentle the press of skin was between them. Alex tried to stay still, tried to enjoy that Michael hadn’t pinned him down and taken all that Alex was offering, but he couldn’t. His limbs were starting to shake with the toll of denial and adrenaline and all he wanted was for Michael to close the last millimeter between them so he wouldn’t have to.

“You okay?” Michael asked, pulling away to look into Alex’s eyes as his hand roamed from his neck to his arm and then hand, pulling it and holding it between them. Alex felt bereft at the distance Michael had put between their lips.

“Do it again,” he said, eyes starting to feel tight with incipient tears at how much he’d missed the feeling of Michael’s mouth against his and the utter rightness in his gut connected to them. Michael swooped down to kiss him again, this time crushing his lips against Alex’s in a forceful, desperate press that left Alex breathless. Michael’s hands found Alex’s and laced their fingers together, pressing their joined hands into the mattress as Alex’s mouth opened to him and his tongue swept in to claim him. Alex wanted to bury his hands in Michael’s hair and keep pulling him closer until they dissolved into a single entity, but Michael had both his hands trapped so all he could do was whimper and try to match Michael’s fervor with his lips alone. After a few minutes, Michael pulled back with a gasp and laid his forehead against Alex’s, eyes shut as he panted softly. Alex tried to calm his thundering heart and ignore the almost swollen feeling of his lips. Michael had kissed the bloody hell out of him.

“Truth or dare”, Michael whispered, breathing still elevated and eyes still closed.

“Truth,” Alex chose again, needing the time to get his body under control. He pulled his hand out of Michael’s to finally run his finger through Michael’s curls. Michael canted his head towards the pressure of Alex’s fingers and then turned to kiss Alex’s wrist softly.

“Why did you want me to kiss you?” Michael asked softly, lips still whisper soft against the skin of Alex’s wrist.

“I always want you to kiss me. I want to drown in you, Michael. My very soul feels misshapen and empty when you’re not touching me,” he answered, moving his hand to run his fingers through Michael’s hair again. Maybe he should write songs while drunk if tequila was going to cause him to sound this poetic.

“Then why do you want to love someone else?” Michael asked, voice low and sad and making Alex’s chest ache.

It wasn’t an accusation, but it sort of felt like one. Alex let his hand drop and his eyes look away from the dips and planes of Michael’s face. He didn’t know if he could put into words why he wanted to say.

“It’s too much pressure, loving you. I keep waiting for you to realize that I’m not worth all this love that you keep throwing at me. I keep waiting for you to see an easier option and run towards it again. I keep wondering if I’m being saved or smothered with the weight of these feelings we have for one another. You’re worth my entire being, Michael, but I’m not sure I measure up. And maybe that’s just my father in my head telling me I’m worthless despite all the things I’ve done and seen to prove him wrong, but that’s what I’m running from. I live in mortal terror of disappointing you by being nothing but myself,” Alex said, sighing with the realization that he had known how to say it, but he’d never wanted to because he didn’t like what it said about him. He felt like a coward and the longer Michael looked at him like he was a puzzle he desperately wanted to figure out, he knew he’d said too much. He felt like every inhalation crack open the armor he used to protect himself with. Every long, slow exhale pushed more and more of his fears out into the open. Tequila really was a better truth serum than anything Caulfield had made in their labs.

“Okay,” Michael said again, leaning down to press a chaste kiss to Alex’s lips. “You’ve got to work on yourself. Iunderstand that. But that feeling you were talking about? The one where your soul feels misshapen? I feel that too. I feel like every odd angle with a piece missing is just another part of you that fits with me. I can’t shut your dad up in your head, though, and I can’t fix the parts of you that you’re responsible for. But I can give you all the time you need because you are it for me. You’ll always be it for me.” 

“Michael, I l–“ Alex cut off abruptly as a grinding creak came from the trap door.

“You losers have pants on?” Kyle’s voice floated down the shaft into the room. Alex sighed through his nose and Michael shifted to stand up.

“Yes, Kyle. We’re perfectly respectable… and a little drunk, shit,” Michael called out as he tilted a little upon standing straight. Alex sat up and found that he too was feeling a little spinny.

“And clothed, right?” Kyle asked again.

“For fucks’ sake, yes!” Alex shouted in exasperation. Standing up, he let the fluidity of his inebriation roll him forward towards the ladder. He wanted to get out of here before he did something stupid like agree to marry Michael at the courthouse as soon as they opened for the next business day.

Michael followed him as they climbed back up into the living room of the cabin. Kyle waited expectantly with his hands on his hips.

“So, what did I miss? And how the hell did you end up locked down there?” Kyle’s gaze switched between Michael and Alex as he waited for a response.

“I’ll tell you about it later. Right now, I need something to eat,” Alex deflected, moving towards the kitchen.

“Yeah, and I better get out of here. Max may need some help fixing _everything_ , as usual. I’ll see you later, Alex,” Michael called, walking out of the cabin and to his truck. Alex didn’t turn to watch him go. He didn’t want to chance that he’d run after him.

“Uhhh…. No thank you for the big rescue?” Kyle asked and Alex turned to see him looking incredulously between him and the door where Michael had disappeared. Alex smiled and came over to pat Kyle on the shoulder.

“Thank you, man. You came just in time. We were about to finish all the tequila.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed it! Feel free to come visit me on [tumblr!](http://skinsharpenedteeth.tumblr.com)


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